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Halo: The Master Chief Collection continues to get new content–both on consoles and PC–more than six years after its release, and that also applies to the “flighting” pre-release program that brings new features and updates to Halo Insider members before they go live in the public game. In the next flight, a number of big features are getting added, including mouse-and-keyboard support on console.

Yes, this would have seemed borderline sacrilegious in a Halo game just a few years ago, but times are changing. Around February 18, but possibly slightly later, the next public flight for Halo: The Master Chief Collection will add mouse-and-keyboard play on consoles. Other console-specific features include FOV slider support on Xbox One, as well as an unlocked FOV slider for Xbox Series X|S if you’re running your devices at 120hz. This option was previously not available at this setting.

Other features coming with the flight include a new Halo 3 map originally seen in the Russian game Halo Online, which was lost after the game was shut down. Who would have thought that we’d get a new map for that game more than 13 years after it released?

Custom game browsers and more Season 6 content will also be available in the flight, as well as double keybindings and new audio options. 343 is certainly doing its best to keep players interested as we continue waiting for Halo Infinite. The game is expected to arrive later this year after being delayed from its original Xbox Series X|S launch day release date.

You might have heard of Valheim, a recently released Viking inspired survival game, where your goal is to conquer the land and hunt down mythical creatures so you may ascend to Valhalla. Like in any good survival game, the world of Valheim is full of danger, and the game expects you to figure things out for yourself. But if you find yourself a little overwhelmed after dropping off the Viking battle bus, don’t worry, as we’ve got some beginner tips to help to get started.

If there are other aspects of the game that you’re curious about, let us know in the comments below, and we’ll be sure to make a guide in the coming days.

Use Abandoned Houses for Early Shelter

Your first goal is going to be building up a base camp. You’ll need a fire to keep warm once night kicks in, a bed next to that fire so you can sleep through the night and have a respawn point, and a workbench so you can start crafting more advanced tools and building structures.

Here’s the catch: the bed needs to be covered with a shelter for it to work. You could place down a workbench and start building your house right away or even create the most barebone requirements for a “shelter,” but the best course of action would be to take advantage of the many abandoned houses around. They have just enough room to fit a bed, chest, and maybe even the workbench if you Tetris it out hard enough, and it will be the perfect temporary accommodation for you while you build your dream house. Just make sure there isn’t a beehive that has already set up shop.

Abandoned Houses Are Also Good For Free Wood

Abandoned houses aren’t just suitable for early game housing or the occasional chest, but fun fact: they are made out of wood and an excellent way to gather the resource quickly. Don’t waste time with your axe, though. That’s simply too slow. Instead, place a workbench next to the structure. Workbenches also allow you to dismantle any structure within range. See where I’m going with this?

Use this method to dismantle abandoned homes in seconds, collecting a ton of wood in the process. Just keep in mind this will whittle down the durability of your hammer quite quickly.

Essential Building Tips

Now comes the time to build your first home, and we have a few tips to make it easier for you.

The terrain in Valheim is rarely flat and smooth, which might be frustrating for first time builders. This is why the first thing you should do is flatten the ground you’re going to build on using the hoe. You can craft one at a workbench that’s covered by a shelter. Aren’t you glad you squeezed it into the small rundown shack?

Keep in mind this isn’t Minecraft, and you can’t completely transform the landscape. The hoe is good for basic flattening and raising the ground to get it smooth enough for a foundation for your home.

But what’s the best way to actually build a house? Well, those abandoned homes across the land are built with the same parts you can create. This means you can simply use them as inspiration when building your first structure. I would recommend making yours larger, though, so you have plenty of space to move around and fill it with stuff.

A final bit of advice: if you’re struggling with getting building pieces to connect, instead of trying to place it where you want it to be, aim your reticle at the side of the piece you want to connect. That was tripping me up at first, so utilize this method to save yourself a headache.

How to Repair Items

You’ll likely go through a few axes and hammers while gathering the necessary materials for your home. However, the item doesn’t break once you’ve exhausted it. So how do you repair them? Well turns out it’s relatively easy. Once you have your workbench under a shelter, you can craft and upgrade items and tools. On the left of the menu is this little square icon. Tap that to repair one of your tools.

That’s it. No cost or materials necessary. As long as you have access to the workbench, you can repair all your tools and gear to your heart’s content. By the way, if you’re like me and created a few extra axes before you had access to repair, go ahead and throw those in a chest. It’s always good to have backups on hand in case you meet your demise.

Improve Your Skills by Doing Literally Anything

Once your basic needs are out of the way, you’ll want to start focusing on boosting your character’s ever-growing list of skills. How? By performing that action. Chopping trees levels up your axe cutting, shooting arrows increases archery, and so on.

These skills are invaluable as they will actually carry over if you bring your character to a different server, saving you the hassle of starting entirely from scratch. Be warned, though, a penalty for dying is losing skill levels, so make sure not to be too risky.

You’ll naturally level up these skills by playing the game, but if you’re looking to improve a particular skill, you can spend the time in a rigorous training routine. Find a low-level enemy and block them with your shield over and over, or punch a tree stump to improve that hand to hand.

If you want to get really cheesy with it, have a friend join your server, turn off PVP damage, and then swing away. This feels a little broken, so don’t be surprised if it’s patched in a later update.

Tame Boars for a Personal Supply of Food and Leather

Boars are easy enough to find and kill, but it’s always nice to have your own personal hogs to love and care for and slaughter for resources. You might have seen a stone message that implies it’s possible to tame the creatures.

The first thing you’ll want to do is build a basic pen. Make it large enough to hold several hogs. Build a gate or leave an opening and then go and find two hogs and agro them. Once they are nice and upset, lead them back to your pen and trap them in.

With the hard part is done, all you need to do is tame them. Drop food like berries or mushrooms into the pen, and slowly over the next few days, their tameness percentage will rise until they love you.

Soon your pen will be filled with little piggies who eventually grow into regular hogs, giving you an excellent supply of meat and leather scraps. Nothing quite beats the fulfillment of achieving sustainability. Just remember to keep throwing food into the pen for them.

The Pokemon Company has rolled out a new update for Pokemon Home on mobile. The update makes an assortment of quality-of-life improvements to the service, particularly to the search and trading functions.

First, a “Receive All” option has been added to Wonder Box, allowing you to claim all your traded Pokemon much more quickly than before. In addition, you can now see the date you first met a Pokemon in that monster’s display page.

The search function has also been improved. The app now gives you the option to search for Pokemon of a specific language or Poke Ball type. You can also tap on the “OT” field in a monster’s display page to quickly look up all the Pokemon with the same Original Trainer.

Finally, if you also have the Nintendo Switch version of Pokemon Home linked, you now have the option to arrange your list of Pokemon in the mobile version in the same order as on Switch. You can see the full patch notes for the latest Pokemon Home update below.

In other Pokemon news, a special Valentine’s Day Max Raid event has begun in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Until February 14, Milcery with the Gigantamax factor will be appearing in Max Raid dens more frequently than normal, and you’ll have a chance to encounter Shiny Milcery. The Pokemon Company is also giving away a handful of free items as a reward for defeating more than 1 million Cramorant during last week’s event.

Pokemon Home Version 1.3.2 Patch Notes

What’s New

• A “Receive all Pokémon” feature has been added to the Wonder Box.
• The date a Pokémon was first met is now displayed in its Trainer notes.
• From the “OT” (Original Trainer) field in a Pokémon’s detailed information, you can now search for Pokémon with the same original Trainer.
• You can now specify “Language” and “Poké Ball” when searching for Pokémon.
• You can now arrange your list of Pokémon in the same order used by your Pokémon Boxes in the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon HOME.
  • (Note: This option will be available only for users who have linked to the Nintendo Switch version.)
• Other issues have also been addressed in order to ensure a user-friendly experience.

Welcome back to Game Scoop!, IGN’s weekly video game podcast. This week your Omega Cops — Daemon Hatfield, Tina Amini, Sam Claiborn, and Justin Davis — are talking about Ubisoft’s plan to rely less on AAA games and more on free-to-play and “games as a service.” There’s also a release date for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the bizarre return of Six Days in Fallujah, completely random new additions to the Nintendo Switch Online service, and more.

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